Vertical flight conveyors



April 26, 1960 VERTICAL FLIGHT oNvEYoRs Filed sept. 2:5. 1957 A TTOANEVS E. D. o'BRu-:N 2,934,201

VERTICAL FLIGHT CONVEYORS Edward D. OBrien, Woodside, Calif. Application September 23, 1957, Serial No. 685,649

4 Claims. (Cl. 198-213) The present invention relates to vertical conveyors and in particular, to such conveyors as will handle granular or nelyudivided material.

Screw and ribbon conveyors are well known in the art. They are used almost exclusively for horizontal or nearly horizontal displacements. Screw conveyors usually carry dry and semigranular or granular matter whereas ribbon conveyors are mostly employed to forward slushy or sticky material.

The subject invention relates to ribbon conveyors although it operates in an entirely different manner and handles other types of material than conventional ribbon conveyors.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vertical conveyor for material of small particle size which will have a high rate of output of such material.

Another object of this invention is to provide a conveyor, as stated above, which will be simple, economical to operate, and which will comprise few bearings or other movable parts, subject to accelerated wear.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a conveyor, as stated above, which will be self-cleaning.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, and in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical view of the conveyor of the in vention, with a part of the outer housing broken away to Show inner components of the apparatus;

Figure 2 is a plane sectional view taken along lines 2 2 of Figure l;

Figure 3 is an enlarged section view taken along lines 3 3 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a view similar to that of Figure 3, but showing a modified form of the apparatus.

With reference to Figure l, vertical cylindrical casing 10, supported by legs 12, serves as a housing for rotatable shaft 14 and vanes 16, said vanes being axed on said shaft at right angles to each other, and said shaft being mounted for rotation in housing-supported bearing members 15 and 17. Helicoidal ribbon 18 is wound around said vanes and secured thereto at the points of contact. Its breadth nearly equals that of the space provided between the edges of said vanes and the inner surface of said housing, with a slight interstice being provided between said ribbon and said inner housing surface to avoid contact of the ribbon with-said housing. Bevel gear 20, secured to the lower end of shaft 14, is in mesh with bevel gear 22 secured to the output shaft 23 of motor 24.

The material to be conveyed is fed through chute 26 at the bottom of the housing and carried upwardly on the ribbon, the lower end of which, not shown, is disposed immediately adjacent the bottom wall of housing 10. The conveyed material is delivered from the housing, for eX- ample, through the laterally directed outlet 25. Any granules falling oi the ribbon are hurled back against United States Patent the housing by the rapidly rotating vanes to be again picked up and conveyed upwardly by the ribbon 18.

It will be appreciated that the subject apparatus causes an annulus of normally free flowing material to be moved upwardly. Depending upon the rate of input of the material into the housing, this annulus may be substantially vertically continuous within the housing or vertically discontinuous. l

Compared to the full screw type of conveyor which has been employed for the vertical conveying of such free owing solid material, this ribbon-vane conveyor has a greatly increased rate of output. One reason for this diierence in rate of output is that in the subject conveyor, the material is, in effect, held against. the housing wall by the vanes while it is cammed upwardly by the ribbon. Such action is not possible in a full screw conveyor.

A further important advantage of the present conveyor over the full-screw conveyor is that the former is self-cleaning, i.e. continued operation of the conveyor after the feed of material into the housing has been stopped will empty the housing of material. With the full screw conveyor-this is not possible, as it is possible to obtain output of material from the upper end of the housing only when the full height of the housing is occupied by material. Hence, with such conveyors, it is necessary to manually clean the housing out from the bottom when it is desired to move another species of material through the conveyor. Y

The embodiment shown in Figure 4 differs from that of Figures l-3 in that the ribbon element 28 is channelshaped in cross-section and the channel is occupied by rope-type packing 30 which is in wiping engagement with the housing. The packing 30 will prevent even a minor degree of sifting of the granular material downwardly between the ribbon element and the housing.

The subject conveyor may be employed for purposes other than the conveying of granular material. For example, it may be employed to express the liquid from a slurry, with the liquid being taken ott at the lower end of the housing and the solids component being taken off at the top.

It is pointed out that the number of vanes 16 employed may be varied, the important consideration being that the number of vanes and their rate of rotation be such as to prevent material being conveyed from dropping down between shaft 14 and ribbon 18. Furthermore, while the conveyor, as depicted in the drawing, embodies vertically disposed and planar vanes which are continuous and extend along the major portion of the shaft, various other vane arrangements can be employed within the spirit and' scope of the invention. For example, a succession of shorter vanes can be placed helicoidally around the shaft, said vanes being either vertical or inclined and having either planar or curved leading surfaces.

While an embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is to be understood that all substantial equivalents thereof are considered tobe within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A vertical conveyor for the elevation and delivery of free-flowing solid material comprising a vertical cylindrical housing, a vertical shaft coaxial to said housing and adapted for rotation therein, a plurality of vertical rectangular vanes radially afxed to said shaft and extending along the major length thereof, a ribbon helicoidally wound around said vanes and in fixed relation therewith operable in conjunction With said vanes to to said conveyor, material outlet means from said conveyor, and driving means to rotate said shaft within saidv housing.

2. A vertical conveyor for the elevation and delivery of free-flowing material comprising a vertical cylindrical housing, a helicoidal ribbon closely fittingv the bore of said housing and adapted to rotatetherein for the purpose of urging said material .to travel upwardly, a pluf ralityof vertically disposed vanes secured to .said helic oidal ribbon and extending radially inwardly of said housing operable to impel the material falling ofi said ribbon back against said housing, material inlet means to said conveyor, material outlet means from said conveyor, said vanes extending for at least the distance between said inlet means and saidl outlet means and` means for rotating said ribbon and vanes.

3. A vertical conveyor for the elevation and delivery of free-flowing material comprisingia vertical cylindrical housing,- a helicoidal ribbon member closely tting said housing and adapted for rotation therein to urge said material upwardly along the inner surface of saidr housing, at least one vertical vane xedly disposed within the volutes of said ribbon, rotatable therewith, and extending from said ribbon radially inwardly of said housing, material inlet means to said conveyor, material outlet means from said conveyor, and means for rotating said ribbon and vane about the longitudinal axis of said housing.

4. A conveyor for the elevation and delivery of freeflowing material comprising a vertically disposed cylindrical housing, a helicoidal. ribbon member closely iitted within said housing in immediately adjacent relation thereto, means supporting said ribbon member for rotation and for rotating said ribbon member, said housing having inlet means at the lower end thereof and outlet means at the upper end thereof for said material, means positioned inwardly of said ribbon member between said inlet and outlet means operable to constrain said material to remain on said ribbon member to be moved upwardly thereby when said ribbon member is rotated, said constraining means comprising at least one essentially planar vane disposed vertically and radially within` said housing in immediately .adjacent relation to said ribbon member and extending for the full vertical distance between said inlet means and said outlet means, and means supporting said ribbon member for rotation and for rotating said ribbon member about an axis of rotation which'coincides with the longitudinal axis of said housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent p UNITED STATES PATENTS 499,175 

